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BILL LANKOFF, QMI AGENCY

For the New York Mets this season has featured the best, and some of the worst, of times.

They open a three-game series in Toronto on Friday featuring the National League’s leading hitter, David Wright, and his sidekick Dan Murphy.

They also bring in a bullpen that blows up with such regularity it’s a wonder Jon Rauch and Frank Francisco can still pass through Homeland Security without setting off alarm bells.

First the happy stuff. Wright has risen from the ashes with New York’s “other” team, leading the National League with a .411 batting average, tops the majors in on-base percentage and ranks third in walks.

He has failed to reach base just twice in 35 games. Thursday’s 9-4 win was typical: Five plate appearances, two hits, three walks, three runs scored. He has been to pitchers what kryptonite is to Superman. Murphy, meantime, is hitting .390 through the past 11 games, including a couple hits in the series finale against the Reds.

Good thing because after that the Mets’ offence has been like a one-night stand: What looks good one day, disappears the next. At one time Thursday, not one of the four bottom hitters in the Mets’ lineup, had a season average touching the Mendoza Line.

Ronny Cedeno bumped his season mark to .219 with a big afternoon that included a three-run homer.

And there is hope for improved consistency as younger players such as Kirk Nieuwenhuis come through the system and gain experience.

Most worrisome, though, is the bullpen which underwent a mini-shuffle Thursday with general manager Sandy Alderson cutting loose veteran D.J. Carrasco. The move comes one day after he surrendered a two-run homer that sealed a 6-3 Mets’ loss to the Reds.

New York’s relief staff has nine blown saves, tied for the most in the Majors, and has a 5.14 ERA, the worst among National League clubs. They have four blown saves in the last seven games.

“The bullpen has been a frustration. There’s no question about that,” Alderson told media Thursday. “We haven’t had the consistency or the depth that we’d like to have. At some point, you have to start making changes.”

Those changes might not end with Carrasco. Rauch was charged with three runs, got just one out, and was charged with a blown save and the 6-3 loss in the same game that probably spelled the end for Carrasco in N.Y. Rauch has now blown three saves, and has a 12.71 ERA in his past seven outings.

Francisco has nine saves but also a 1-3 record and a 8.04 ERA.

All these bullpen blues leave Alderson looking at a relief corps with an ERA of 7.55 through the past eight games as he ponders more changes whilst hoping it won’t be necessary.

A Canadian connection runs throughout the Mets’ roster, although outfielder Jason Bay, sidelined with a fractured rib, won’t be making this trip. Catcher Mike Nickeas, a Vancouver native, makes his Rogers Centre debut. Then, there is the Mets’ Game 1 starter. Miguel Batista. Forty-one years young and six years since apparently being done with the Jays, he has re-emerged in the Mets’ rotation. It started as a fill-in role for Chris Young. But at 1-1, 4.26 he might not be the first to get the elbow when Young returns from rehab in a few weeks.

Meantime, even with its share of frustrations and shortcomings, the Mets open intra-league play with a 21-17 record and Alderson isn’t eager to swing a wrecking ball through a roster that has both a winning record and promise.

“The temptation is always to change,” Alderson said. “It’s probably the most emotionally satisfying option. But it’s not necessarily the best thing to do, because at some point, you run out of options. Then you have to recycle back, and in the meantime, you’ve impacted the psyche of a lot of different people. You do have to be careful about making change.”

Mets at Blue Jays

The Games:

Friday: LHP Jon Niese vs. LHP Ricky Romero 7:07 p.m.

Saturday: RHP Miguel Batista vs. RHP Brandon Morrow 1:07 p.m.

Sunday: RHP Dillon Gee vs. RHP Henderson Alvarez 1:07 p.m.

FRIDAY’S PITCHER

A typical lefty, Niese doesn’t have a lot of velocity, topping out near 90 mph with a fastball that he throws about 50% of the time. Relies on location while mixing in a cutter, a lunch to supper-time curve, and an occasional change.

LANKY’S TAKE

Any series starting with Romero and Morrow on the mound should give Toronto a big advantage. So, what’s the catch? Both are coming off rocky outings. Romero’s control issues re-emerged with five walks in his first loss of the season and Morrow allowed six runs in a loss. Still, stop Murphy and Wright, and they stop the Mets. The two have 97 of the Mets’ 328 hits and while the team ranks sixth in the majors with a .264 average that’s deceiving as the rest of the roster is batting a .226 clip.

PREDICTION

Toronto has the top of the rotation, home field, those eight runs against the Yankees show the offence isn’t totally inert and if they can’t take two of three here then they aren’t the contenders they believe themselves to be.

HOT AND COLD

HOT

---Dan Murphy had his 11-game hitting streak snapped, but is 16-for-43 (.372) in his past 11 games.

---Third baseman David Wright is hitting .487 (19-for-39) through the past 11 games.

---Kirk Nieuwenhuis is second among qualifying rookies with 37 hits and a .291 batting average.

---Lucas Duda has bumped his season average to .279 with 31 hits in 97 at-bats through the past 29 games.

COLD

---Mike Nickeas struck out a career-worst three times Tuesday vs. Milwaukee and has just two hits in 21 at-bats in the last 11 games.

---Ike Davis snapped an 0-for-16 skid at Citi Field on Wednesday with a double but was hitless Thursday and is 5-for-35 in the club’s last 11 games.

---Centre fielder Andres Torres had a hit Thursday but is 7-for-39 (.179) in the past 11 games.

---RHP Dillon Gee’s ERA has risen nearly three runs to 5.65 in his past five outings. He has twice given up seven runs in a game.